Nanika River

For those interested in a day of trout fishing Nanika is a great option. Nanika is one of BC’s hidden jewels for fly fishing BC trips, known for world class canoeing and superb fly fishing opportunities, including trout Fishing. The deep blue water, created by glacial till, is home to a prolific population of magnificent rainbow trout that range in size from 12 to 18 inches on average, with the ever present opportunity to hook and land a trophy. The nanika system is a chain of lakes in Neneikekh/Nanika-Kidprice Parks, British Columbia, winding its way through Morice mountains into the Morice River and eventually emptying into the Bulkley and Skeena system.

Stonefly, Caddis and Mayfly hatches are common so a good selection of each along with colors is good to have in preparation for your fly fishing BC excursion. There are times when Caddis hatches can be so thick that they literally cover the sky. Mayfly hatches are less prolific but at times can be equally important. Elk Hair Caddis and Parachute Adams can be effective in sizes 14-20. Rusty Spinners in size 16 and 18 can be deadly at times as the morning Mayfly spinner falls are often much larger than the hatch. In the Nanika there is a good Stonefly population and size 8-10, weighted Black Stones are a good bet if the dry fly fishing is slow. In March there can be epic flying ant hatches throughout Patagonia and size 16-20 Black Parachute Ants can bring up lots of fish in a day.

The majority of our fly fishing BC trip will be fishing with large attractor type dries including: Chernobyl Ants, Turk’s Tarantulas, Fat Alberts, Hoppers, Beetles, PMX’s, Damsel and large darner Dragonfly patterns. Dragon and Damselfly hatches at the lake outlet on the Nanika can be amazing with bows literally launching themselves out of the water to eat them out of the air. Casting large dries to big fish is not only exciting fishing, it can be the most effective way to hook up with a large BC trout.

The available fishing areas include 2 extremely scenic Provincial parks. Nanika Park has one of the most prolific rainbow trout fisheries in BC. This high altitude lake has voracious trout who gorge in July and August. They stack up in the mouth of the lake where we have seen them take mice off the surface in early evening. Catching 30-50 18 inch rainbows on dry flies is not uncommon in these fly fishing BC adventures.

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